Boy cat people - I need some help.

[BlsdMama]

We got Boots fixed two weeks ago because, frankly, he was spraying everything.  We threw away the new bean bag chair.  We have the cat neutralizer.  

 

I was told we needed a covered box.  Got it.

I was told a more comfortable litter mat.  Ordered it - it will be here tomorrow.

I was told buy Cat Attract litter - I'll pick it up today.

I was told I need two boxes I set up.  I can do that.

I am feeding grain free solid and ash free wet.

He has water out at all times.

 

I am at my wit's end.

 

He has peed on blankets, towels, three coats, one skirt, and today is the final straw - he peed on my pillow.

 

 

This can't continue.  It  cannot.  I am cleaning up after 11 children, 2 adults, 3 dogs, and now one nice cat and HIM.

 

I. Am. Done. With. Animals.

 

 

Please help me fix this before I rehome every creature I have except my chickens.

Seriously.

 

I will totally admit to being a bit neat-freakish.  I think I'm coping really well about the hair - no shaking, no twitching.

But I honestly can't deal with pee.  

 

Suggestions?  

[SparklyUnicorn]

The difficulty is once stuff gets peed on, it is hard to get rid of the smell so they don't smell it. 

 

How many other cats do you have?  What other animals do you have? 

[zoobie]

Sensory reset. Restrict him to one small pee-proof room (bathroom for example) with an *open* litter box for 2 weeks. I've never heard of recommending a covered one for this issue. Don't use citrus (air freshener, cleaner) anywhere around litter box bc it's a cat repellant odor. We resorted to Buspar at one point with my cat. It totally sucks. The boy in my avatar was our rampant pee-er. We lost a couch, had to pull up subfloor... We worked with a behaviorist at a reputable vet school. You can pre-emptively restrict him when you have any sort of life changing event. He wound up having serious thyroid disease, and the peeing stopped after we had his thyroid irradiated. No idea if that was related or if he just mellowed with age.

 

I'm assuming he's been checked by a vet for UTI and kidney issues.

[zoobie]

Cat Attract litter is the best! I got ours on Amazon more cheaply than I could find it IRL, but yes, grab some! Replace litter boxes every 6 mos or so. Even with cleaning, the plastic absorbs the odors. And scoop scrupulously.

[Guest]

Would it be possible to take him to a vet? I had a male cat that was peeing everywhere and it turned out that he was prone to urinary infections/crystals when he was stressed. I changed the food (to a urniary health type) and now he doesn't pee anywhere but the litter box.

[JFSinIL]

Yes, have the vet check for a UTI. When our cats have one, it hurts to pee and they try to avoid the pain by peeing everywhere except where they are supposed to.

[bolt.]

After you've tried the best advice above (I think they are all really good ideas, especially the temporary small room confinement)... As a last-ditch you might try getting a cat repellant spray and not cleaning the pee/spray immediately, but basically adding the repelling spray to make it stink to his own senses. Then clean it up, but after it has bugged him for a while. (This semi-worked for female cat, bad poop habits.)

[Sarah CB]

I know this likely isn't helpful because it's already too late, but for future cats - getting male cats fixed early is the best way to prevent this. 

 

[TeenagerMom]

Another vet for checking for UTI/Crystals in urine. The ONLY time my male cat pees outside the box is if it is not clean enough for his liking or he has crystals built up in his urine making him feel bad.

[JFSinIL]

Yes, have the vet check for a UTI. When our cats have one, it hurts to pee and they try to avoid the pain by peeing everywhere except where they are supposed to.

[BlsdMama]

Okay - so tell me how much I'm going to spend taking him into the vet... because I think the vet could buy a vacation home on my last few months and it is really NOT justifiable at this point to be spending more on animal medical bills when we are still paying off my ambulance and surgery bills from the December miscarriage.  I'm so insanely sorry that we have pets right now it's not even funny.  :( Seems like two dogs was so wonderful... then with the addition of Boots and Bris life went really, really wrong. :(   

 

So much for, "Be a good mom.  Overcome your freak cleanliness issues and let your kids have pets."  Yeah, that's biting me right now.

[TeenagerMom]

:(  I know it sucks when unexpected expenses come up.  I know our vet charged for visit and urine test (around $150 total I think) and then $50 for special diet food to dissolve the crystals.

[Laurie4b]

Okay - so tell me how much I'm going to spend taking him into the vet... because I think the vet could buy a vacation home on my last few months and it is really NOT justifiable at this point to be spending more on animal medical bills when we are still paying off my ambulance and surgery bills from the December miscarriage.  I'm so insanely sorry that we have pets right now it's not even funny.   :( Seems like two dogs was so wonderful... then with the addition of Boots and Bris life went really, really wrong. :(   

 

So much for, "Be a good mom.  Overcome your freak cleanliness issues and let your kids have pets."  Yeah, that's biting me right now.

 

 

Your reaction to a cat peeing like that is not "freak cleanliness."  No one tolerates it that I know of except the kind of people who hoard animals that you read about occasionally in the paper. It's a horrible smell and it ruins things. 

 

You are justifiably stressed by this, but it is not because you have "freak cleaniless disorder!"  If you were at the end of your rope because your dogs' hair had to be vacuumed off the sofa even if the dogs weren't allowed on the sofa, that might qualify. But cat pee? Whole nother ballgame. 

 

A check for a UTI shouldn't be that much. You could call ahead of time to find out. If he does have a UTI, your problem and his are both solved. 

Edited March 7, 2016 by Laurie4b

[Sarah CB]

Okay - so tell me how much I'm going to spend taking him into the vet... because I think the vet could buy a vacation home on my last few months and it is really NOT justifiable at this point to be spending more on animal medical bills when we are still paying off my ambulance and surgery bills from the December miscarriage.  I'm so insanely sorry that we have pets right now it's not even funny.   :( Seems like two dogs was so wonderful... then with the addition of Boots and Bris life went really, really wrong. :(   

 

So much for, "Be a good mom.  Overcome your freak cleanliness issues and let your kids have pets."  Yeah, that's biting me right now.

 

Is he a young cat?  If he's between 5 and 12 months old, then I think the most likely cause of the spraying is behavioural.  He's sexually mature and marking his territory.  The fact that he's fixed now should help.  I think you got some fantastic behavioural advice above.  I would try to work with him first before going to the vet again.

[Pawz4me]

Ditto what Zoobie said, and also ditto everyone who suggested having him checked for a UTI.

 

I would NOT do a covered litter box.  Never, ever, never.  The general belief among experts about covered boxes is that people love them and cats absolutely hate them.  'Nuff said.

 

However, sometimes with a male cat (particularly big males) you might need a high sided box.  I use these.  The downside is it takes a LOT of litter to fill them up.

 

How old is he?  If he was already six months or so when he was neutered, it will take a few weeks for the hormones to calm down.

[stephanier.1765]

Another advocate of a high sided open litter box. I tried and tried to convince my son's gf of this since she was having trouble with her kitties but she never would break down and get them. Finally, she left her kitties at our house for some cat sitting and dh and I threw out her old boxes and bought new high sided ones. Yes, I realize that was rude but I didn't want any accidents in my house and it worked. Plus she is no longer having accidents in her house. Please get high sided open boxes, at least 2. You both will be much happier.

[Pen]

Honestly, I can't deal with cat pee either. I think it is the rare person who can.

 

1) We have not been able to have 2 adult male cats around at same time without troubles.  Even neutered they seem to have territorial issues. In our case it has worked out in various ways, such as one cat gets to be a house cat, one a garage cat, but they just have not done well in overlapping space, though I know some people who have this work out okay.

 

2) Cats who have spraying tendencies have become outdoor only cats. A cat with bad enough spraying tendency got rehomed to where a barn cat was needed because we have porch furniture and that was getting destroyed.

 

3) I have rehomed a cat who had trouble adopting to our home environment--seemed like a nice cat, and was not spraying, but in this case was terrorizing another cat and a dog, so seemed like he needed to be an "only cat" somewhere.  Rehoming when young is easier I think than waiting till later. We have an older female cat who is not nice and also is ripping screens, but having not rehomed her when she was in her youth, I feel sort of stuck with her.  So, if you think you cannot cope with Mr. Boots, I'd consider trying to find another situation for him now, and he might behave better somewhere else as an only cat, or as an outdoor cat.

 

Really, 11 children, 1 cat, and 3 dogs sounds like plenty!

[Ellie]

I know this likely isn't helpful because it's already too late, but for future cats - getting male cats fixed early is the best way to prevent this. 

 

I promise you that male cats are not the only ones who spray. My spayed female cats, who were spayed as soon as possible, sprayed.

 

As much as I love cats, this is the one issue which keeps me from getting any new kittehs (the last kitteh died two years ago).

[clarkacademy]

I was always told you fix a boy long before they spray otherwise they will continue to do it even after. The smell will always attract them back. He would have to become an outdoor only only cat here. Everything he peed on would go in the trash because no matter what the smell NEVER goes away. You will think it does but it will get hot or a room will get shut up etc and there it is back again. It can also attract other cats to begin marking their scents as well. 

[GailV]

Ditto what Zoobie said, and also ditto everyone who suggested having him checked for a UTI.

 

I would NOT do a covered litter box.  Never, ever, never.  The general belief among experts about covered boxes is that people love them and cats absolutely hate them.  'Nuff said.

 

However, sometimes with a male cat (particularly big males) you might need a high sided box.  I use these.  The downside is it takes a LOT of litter to fill them up.

 

How old is he?  If he was already six months or so when he was neutered, it will take a few weeks for the hormones to calm down.

 

Ditto the anti-covered-litter-box sentiment.  One of the first things to try is generally to UNCOVER a covered litter box.  A covered  box is stinkier, plus a cat may fear being attacked coming out of the box since they can't see what's outside the box.  Cats need to fell like they have safe passage into and out of the litter box, so it needs to be located in such a way that other animals/threatening things can't block the only path in or out (so, stuck in a closet may not work either).

 

Also, first stop on any litter box issues is always the vet.  Yikes, could you imagine wandering around for days with a UTI and no relief in sight?  I might feel pitiful enough to pee on the furniture myself, or at least make SOME sort of grand gesture to let the world know how much I'm hurting.

 

Because, really, peeing on your pillow sounds like a cat trying to figure out how to get your attention with a massive "HEY, WE GOT A PROBLEM HERE THAT I NEED YOU TO HELP WITH!  LISTEN UP!" You've got a really busy household there (!), so his attempts at a mild throat-clearing followed by, "Pardon me, could I make an appointment to discuss an issue with you at your convenience?" probably got lost in the shuffle.

 

(One of our males jumped into the bathtub while I was cleaning the bathroom, and peed in the white tub.  I then saw the blood in the urine.  AHA!  Most cats won't come up with that sort of scenario, though.)

 

Also, spraying can be a way to mark territory, and you may have territory issues you don't even realize.  Maybe a feral cat has started hanging around outside.

[Pen]

PS, IME, things like cat attract litter might help if cat doesn't understand to go to litter box. But spraying is a different matter than a lack of understanding or a physical problem with urination. More an emotional problem and can be a cat who feels under stress, as much as one who is trying to assert territory. It may be that your household is too much for this cat as much as that this cat is too much for you.

[Garga]

UTI or the house is too busy. Some cats cannot handle as much stimulation as a home with 13 humans, 3 dogs and 2 cats has.

[ktgrok]

UTI, or he is afraid to use the box (other cat harassing him or giving him the stink eye when he goes near it, or dog pouncing on him when he comes out, etc) or anxiety in general or marking territory. 

 

Two boxes in diferrent areas, so if one is blocked he can get to the other. Preferably where dogs can't get to it. 

But honestly, I had a very anxious cat that did this when he was stressed. And after meds didn't work we put him down. I feel badly, but I couldn't give him to anyone to have him pee on their stuff, and he was way to skittish to be outside, he HATED outside. So it was the only option. It did mean we had space in our home to take in a different stray, so although we caused one death we prevented another. 

[Mergath]

If he only had the surgery two weeks ago, perhaps your vet won't charge and will consider the check up as part of the ongoing care for the neutering. Mine probably would.

 

And I agree with everyone else- get rid of the covered box, and check him for a UTI. 

 

Also, grain-free dry food is high in minerals that can cause urinary crystals, so you might want to consider going back to the regular food for a while to see if it helps. I know it's counter intuitive, but it might help.

[Reefgazer]

This.  Assuming a vet check found him healthy, lock him in the laundry room/porch with a litter box, his food/water, and a bed for 2-3 weeks.  Make sure he has toys, human contact and interaction occasionally, and window access to look out.  He will pee in his litter box and remember that that is the place where he needs to go.  I had a pooper who needed this training, but it did the trick.

Sensory reset. Restrict him to one small pee-proof room (bathroom for example) with an *open* litter box for 2 weeks. I've never heard of recommending a covered one for this issue. Don't use citrus (air freshener, cleaner) anywhere around litter box bc it's a cat repellant odor. We resorted to Buspar at one point with my cat. It totally sucks. The boy in my avatar was our rampant pee-er. We lost a couch, had to pull up subfloor... We worked with a behaviorist at a reputable vet school. You can pre-emptively restrict him when you have any sort of life changing event. He wound up having serious thyroid disease, and the peeing stopped after we had his thyroid irradiated. No idea if that was related or if he just mellowed with age.

I'm assuming he's been checked by a vet for UTI and kidney issues.

 

Edited March 7, 2016 by reefgazer

[tiddles]

Okay - so tell me how much I'm going to spend taking him into the vet... because I think the vet could buy a vacation home on my last few months and it is really NOT justifiable at this point to be spending more on animal medical bills when we are still paying off my ambulance and surgery bills from the December miscarriage.  I'm so insanely sorry that we have pets right now it's not even funny.   :( Seems like two dogs was so wonderful... then with the addition of Boots and Bris life went really, really wrong. :(   

 

So much for, "Be a good mom.  Overcome your freak cleanliness issues and let your kids have pets."  Yeah, that's biting me right now.

 

I totally hear you. I have spent around ten thousand dollars in the past year on vet costs for various animals. I love animals but have decided that as my current pets die off, I will NOT be replacing them...unless I suddenly become rich. I will have to get my animal fix volunteering at shelters and such. 

[AK_Mom4]

Our male cat has two litter boxes all to himself, in a bathroom with a baby gate on the door to keep the dogs out.  It's the kind of baby gate with a small pet door in the middle so cat can get in and out himself.  Like this one: http://home.woot.com/offers/carlson-extra-tall-metal-pet-gate-3?gclid=CIKrh52jr8sCFYVrfgodiFkPSg

 

We also use the Cat Attract litter - I just mix in a little bit with the regular litter and Cat seems to approve.

 

I would absolutely keep him confined to a small space for a week or so (with water and food available of course!) to see if that helps with the problem.  It may be that the pain from being fixed has caused him to develop some bad habits, but if you move in now and give him a "safe" space to use the litter box, that may be enough to stop it.

 

 

[catz]

I would also try the reset in a small space for a couple weeks.  Between already being in the habit of peeing everwhere and then getting neutered a little older, I can see why that wasn't an automatic fix.  I think checking for Uti isn't a bad idea and at least doing some wet food is a good idea.

 

Cats should really be spayed/neutered before they hit sexual maturity for the best outcome.  I've had 6 male cats over the years and the only one that had pee problems had crystals and was fine again for the rest of his 16 year life on different food.  I've also had multiple early neutered male cats in the same space without any issue.  You can neuter once they hit 2 lbs. 

[Pippen]

I haven't read all the replies but my mom told me about a friend whose longtime neutered male started the same thing, plus started yowling at night. 

 

One thing that helped was a Feliway difuser. 

http://www.feliway.com/us/#redirected

 

But what finally did the trick was letting the previously indoor cat become and indoor/outdoor cat. Once the cat had some freedom and could burn off some energy the problem disappeared. 

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

If he only had the surgery two weeks ago, perhaps your vet won't charge and will consider the check up as part of the ongoing care for the neutering. Mine probably would.

 

And I agree with everyone else- get rid of the covered box, and check him for a UTI. 

 

Also, grain-free dry food is high in minerals that can cause urinary crystals, so you might want to consider going back to the regular food for a while to see if it helps. I know it's counter intuitive, but it might help.

 

Agreeing with this

[Alicia64]

My worry is that he's having a medical problem and so is responding the way he is. Do you need to get a second vet opinion?

 

I know it's a major pain. I went through something similar w/ my male cat. After a year of back-and-forthing, I think we have the problem fixed.

 

Vets -- understandably -- want to initially treat it as a behavior problem. And maybe it is, but eventually -- in my cat's case -- they realized it was physical. The poor guy was hurting.

 

My concern is that your cat is in a lot of pain.

 

Alley

Edited March 7, 2016 by Alicia64

[Pawz4me]

If he only had the surgery two weeks ago, perhaps your vet won't charge and will consider the check up as part of the ongoing care for the neutering. Mine probably would.

 

And I agree with everyone else- get rid of the covered box, and check him for a UTI. 

 

Also, grain-free dry food is high in minerals that can cause urinary crystals, so you might want to consider going back to the regular food for a while to see if it helps. I know it's counter intuitive, but it might help.

 

Ditto -- about the vet not charging (mine probably wouldn't) and about the grain free food.  The only time my male cat ever had any urinary issues was when he was on EVO dry food (he eats mostly wet food, but has a little kibble every day)..  He had back to back UTIs.  I took him off the EVO and have purposefully NOT fed a grain free dry food since then and he hasn't had another problem.  And that was eight or nine years ago.

[Tanaqui]

You've received some excellent advice. I'd isolate him while getting him checked out by the vet for a physical problem.

 

You're not overreacting. Cat pee is smelly, and unpleasant. The only people who just put up with it, as stated, are either hoarders or people with a beloved cat that is elderly and/or suffering from some sort of physical or emotional problem that makes them a little accident-prone... and those people pretty much universally keep their pet isolated so the damage is restricted to one area.

[BlsdMama]

I wish they could be outdoor cats but the one thing that freaks me out more than pee in the house is cat poop in the garden and sandbox.  The neighbor across the street has multiple feral cats. They don't come here because of our dogs.  The dogs are NOT cat friendly.   We have a good shed for the kitties that is also our chicken coop - so not an ideal situation but they wouldn't stay in just the little shed.  If we had a barn.....  But that makes the kitties *really* expensive!

 

A few questions - Yesterday was crazy busy with running kids to class and mock trial practice and pet stores.

We have two boxes set up now.  I am still doing laundry because my kiddos dump their coats on the coatroom floor on occasion and we hung everything up yesterday in hopes that the good weather is here to stay.   THREE of them now reek of cat urine.

 

So we have two separate living spaces - the upstairs and the basement.  The basement is the main domain of the cats because there are no little people down there and even the rest of the kids are upstairs most of the day.  Their climbing thing is down there and there is a really big window down there that they like.  So far we have not found ANY accidents in the basement.  But, Boots, genius that he is, can open our lever door handle and come up whenever he wants.  The accidents are up here - with the exception of the basement bathroom where the actual litter box IS.  And that's new - this weekend he was in the bathroom a lot because it's the one door we can close and lock.  We were painting the girls' bedroom and had the window open and he can climb outside.  

 

It feels intentional.  Could it be intentional?

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

Of course it could be intentional.

 

I'd still rule out physical problems.

[Sarah CB]

I promise you that male cats are not the only ones who spray. My spayed female cats, who were spayed as soon as possible, sprayed.

 

As much as I love cats, this is the one issue which keeps me from getting any new kittehs (the last kitteh died two years ago).

 

Yes, female cats can spray, too, but only about 5% of them do so.  It's much more common in male cats who reach sexual maturity before being neutered.

[BlsdMama]

BTW, thank you for the sympathy.  I really appreciated that.  I am fur baby mama fail this season and something new and totally chaotic has hit my life practically every week since December and this "little" thing is totally overwhelming me.  But the idea of getting rid of them - making the girls sad, is just awful.

[zoobie]

Cat pee sucks. Sucks. Makes you never want to have another again. They like peeing on piles of clothes and plastic bags (like a bag of clothes in the mudroom to be returned? Yeah. Nice.).

 

As far as intentional goes, of course it can be, but he's telling you something is wrong. It could be physical or mental. UTIs are painful. He's trying to get your attention to tell you something, though it may be he's just a crazy a-hole. ;) Luckily (I guess?) mine was a super sweet crazy a-hole...

[Guest]

Yes he's being intentional about telling you something is wrong.

Of course he wouldn't want to pee where he normally lives but he knows you are upstairs and he wants to "tell" you something.

Please please take him into the vet.

[Ellie]

Yes, female cats can spray, too, but only about 5% of them do so.  It's much more common in male cats who reach sexual maturity before being neutered.

 

I know it's rare, but it's still possible. Most people think it is not.

[yucabird]

Apologies if I have missed this, but how old is the cat?  Has he lost weight?  

[zoobie]

Yes, female cats can spray, too, but only about 5% of them do so.  It's much more common in male cats who reach sexual maturity before being neutered.

 

My sprayer was a male who was neutered before sexual maturity. And my female (at the time) had a few copycat episodes from the stress of the situation.